Contents
- According to Clutch.co's custom software development cost survey, a mid-market US firm typically charges $150K-$300K for a single production system, with timelines of 6-12 months.
- Stealth Labz built 596,903 lines of production code across 10 deployed systems for $67,895 total.
- The most important finding is not the total cost -- it is the cost trajectory.
Custom software built with AI-assisted development costs $65,000-$68,000 for a full production portfolio of 10 systems spanning 7 verticals, based on audited data from a 116-day build cycle. That is 12x-43x less than the $795K-$2.9M a traditional mid-market firm would charge for equivalent output.
How Traditional Pricing Compares
According to Clutch.co's custom software development cost survey, a mid-market US firm typically charges $150K-$300K for a single production system, with timelines of 6-12 months. A multi-system portfolio like the one described above would require 4-6 developers, a project manager, and QA staff, pushing costs into the $960K-$1.44M range for internal teams or $795K-$2.9M through outsourcing. Those estimates assume 12-24 months of development time.
What AI-Assisted Development Actually Cost (Audited)
Stealth Labz built 596,903 lines of production code across 10 deployed systems for $67,895 total. That breaks down as follows:
| Category | Amount | % of Total |
|---|---|---|
| CON-02 (primary dev contractor) | $40,700 | 59.9% |
| CON-03 (secondary contractor) | $21,854 | 32.2% |
| Initial website build | $2,500 | 3.7% |
| AI tools (Anthropic, OpenAI) | $2,634 | 3.9% |
| Other software | $207 | 0.3% |
| Total | $67,895 |
No investors. No venture capital. No equity sold. One operator using the Compounding Execution Model (CEM) with AI tools.
Why the Cost Keeps Falling
The most important finding is not the total cost -- it is the cost trajectory. Each new system cost less than the last because reusable infrastructure compounded across projects:
- 1st product: $7,995 external support cost
- 4th product: $1,680
- 8th product: $90
- 9th product: $0
By January 2026, a new production system in a new vertical shipped in 5 days at zero external cost. Monthly burn dropped from $8,367 at peak to $825 -- a 90% reduction in 4 months. The marginal cost of launching a new product converged to the operator's time plus ~$105/month in AI tooling.
For decision-makers evaluating AI development costs: the question is not what the first build costs. It is what the fifth, eighth, and tenth builds cost once the foundation compounds.
Related: [FAQ #68 — ROI of AI-Assisted Development]
References
- Clutch.co (2025). "Custom Software Development Cost Survey." Agency pricing and project cost data.
- Keating, M.G. (2026). "Case Study: The Cost Inversion." Stealth Labz. Read case study